Matches to Make After UFC 168

They had to carry the great Anderson
Silva out of the Octagon on a stretcher. No one could have
envisioned such a scene.

Silva’s bid to recapture the Ultimate Fighting Championship
middleweight crown was brought to an immediate and perhaps
career-ending halt, as Chris
Weidman retained his title with a second-round technical
knockout in the UFC 168 main event on Saturday at the MGM Grand
Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Silva fell to the canvas 1:16 into the
second round of the highly anticipated rematch, his left leg having
been broken above the ankle when the champion checked his kick.

Most believe Silva, who turns 39 in April, has fought his last
fight. The unbeaten Weidman, who dethroned “The Spider” in their
first encounter at UFC 162 in July, had the Brazilian reeling
inside the first five minutes. He landed a clubbing right hand to
the side of Silva’s head in close quarters, pursued him to the mat
and smashed away with ground-and-pound. Silva managed to withstand
the onslaught to see round two. The fate that awaited him there was
beyond horrific.

Weidman met an inside leg kick from “The Spider” with knee-to-shin
contact, snapping the future hall of famer’s lower leg upon impact.
The audible crack left Silva writhing in pain on the ground,
brought an unsettling hush over the sold-out crown and left Weidman
in charge of the UFC’s middleweight division.

A showdown with a resurgent Vitor Belfort
now looms for the 29-year-old champion. “The Phenom” has rattled
off three straight victories, all of them finishes, against
Michael
Bisping, Luke
Rockhold and Dan Henderson.
In November, he became the first man to ever stop Henderson with
strikes, as he put away the former two-division Pride Fighting
Championships titleholder with a violent first-round head kick. The
36-year-old Belfort remains a lightning rod for controversy over
his use of testosterone replacement therapy, but he has
nevertheless emerged as the clear No. 1 contender at 185
pounds.

In the wake of UFC 168, here are six other matchups that ought to
be made:

Ronda Rousey
vs. Sara
McMann: The sweat on Rousey’s armbar-induced
submission victory over archrival Miesha Tate
had barely dried before Zuffa officials announced she would defend
her women’s bantamweight title against a fellow Olympian in McMann
in the UFC 170 headliner on Feb. 22. The unbeaten McMann, who won a
silver medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2004 Summer Olympics,
made her Octagon debut at UFC 159 in April, when she dispatched
Sheila
Gaff with first-round punches in Newark, N.J. She also owns
wins over Shayna
Baszler and Hitomi
Akano.

Travis
Browne vs. Fabricio
Werdum: No fighter did more to improve his position at
UFC 169 than Browne, who wiped out former champion Josh Barnett
with a series of damaging standing elbows 60 seconds into their
heavyweight showcase. Now on a short list of legitimate title
contenders, Browne will likely have to topple two-time Abu Dhabi
Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist
Fabricio
Werdum in order to secure his desired crack at heavyweight boss
Cain
Velasquez. The 31-year-old Velasquez recently underwent
shoulder surgery and does not expect to return until late 2014.

Miesha Tate
vs. Sarah
Kaufman: Having failed in her attempt to upset and
unseat Rousey, Tate becomes just another face in a growing crowd at
135 pounds. While she may no longer be in position to contend for
UFC gold, Tate remains a formidable stumbling block for others
hoping to ascend to the top of the bantamweight division. A former
Strikeforce champion, Kaufman saw her promotional debut spoiled in
a split decision loss to Jessica Eye at
UFC 166 in October. The Canadian striker already has a victory over
Tate on her resume, as she recorded a unanimous decision over
“Cupcake” at a Strikeforce event in May 2009.

Josh Barnett
vs. Gabriel
Gonzaga-Stipe Miocic
loser: Barnett’s dreams of reclaiming the UFC heavyweight
championship were put on hold, perhaps permanently, in a 60-second
knockout loss to Browne. The defeat snapped a modest two-fight
winning streak for “The Warmaster” and marked the first time he had
been finished since he submitted to punches from Mirko
Filipovic in the 2006 Pride Fighting Championships open weight
grand prix final. Gonzaga and Miocic will duke it out at UFC on Fox
10 in January.

Jim
Miller vs. Michael
Johnson: A mainstay in the lightweight division since
he touched down in the UFC in October 2008, Miller submitted
Fabricio
Camoes with an armbar 3:42 into their encounter. The
30-year-old AMA Fight Club representative has compiled a 12-3
record inside the Octagon, losing only to Gray Maynard,
Benson
Henderson and Nate Diaz, all
three of whom have either held or fought for UFC gold at 155
pounds. Johnson, meanwhile, won for the fifth time in his last
seven outings, as he stopped American Top Team brute Gleison Tibau
on second-round punches.

Dustin
Poirier vs. Darren
Elkins-Jeremy
Stephens winner: Poirier was spectacular in
dismantling the overweight Diego
Brandao, as he dismissed “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 14
winner with punches 4:54 into the first round of their
featherweight scrap. Now 7-2 inside the Octagon, the promising
24-year-old Poirier has rebounded well from losses to Chan Sung
Jung and Cub Swanson.
Elkins and Stephens will collide at UFC on Fox 10 on Jan. 25 in
Chicago.